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England name men's sevens squad for 2017/18 season

England have announced their squad for the 2017/18 season, which includes the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, the 2018 Commonwealth Games, the Rugby Europe Sevens Grand Prix Series and Rugby World Cup Sevens 2018.

08/09/2017 14:23

Dan Norton, the most prolfic try-scorer in HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series history, is one of a dozen senior players named in a 20-man England men's sevens squad for the 2017/18 campaign.

Earlier this year Norton along with Richard de Carpentier, Ollie Lindsay-Hague, Charlie Hayter, Tom Mitchell and James Rodwell signed contract extensions, while Dan Bibby, Tom Bowen, Phil Burgess, Alex Davis, Ruaridh McConnochie and Ethan Waddleton have also been retained for the busy season that lies ahead.

England will compete on HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2017-18 and at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, the Rugby Europe Sevens Grand Prix Series and Rugby World Cup Sevens 2018.

"“We have an extremely talented squad made up of experienced, senior players who understand what it takes to win competitions, along with a strong group of academy players who we will be looking to develop through the England Sevens pathway into becoming world-class players."

England men's sevens head coach Simon Amor

“This season we have two major competitions in the Commonwealth Games as well as the Rugby World Cup Sevens and all of our efforts will be focused on doing our best to win these events," said England Men Sevens head coach Amor.

"This, on top of the 10 legs of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series and the international academy tournaments that we’ll be playing in, demonstrates this season is undoubtedly going to be a hugely challenging and exciting one for this group of players.

“We have an extremely talented squad made up of experienced, senior players who understand what it takes to win competitions, along with a strong group of academy players who we will be looking to develop through the England Sevens pathway into becoming world-class players.

In addition to the full-time contracted players for this season, eight part-time contracts have been offered to university players across the men’s and women’s programmes as a result of the strong relationships that the England Sevens programme has built with selected universities.

Harry Glover, Will Glover, Yaree Fantini and Charlie Kingham will train with the men’s squad when they are not studying, while Jess Breach, Liv Jones, Celia Quansah and Kelly Smith will train with the women’s squad. Both groups of players will compete in international academy tournaments alongside the full-time players.

As a shared agreement with Gloucester to help develop Mason Tonks, he will also join the England Sevens programme on a part-time basis and will compete in international academy tournaments.